AX 481

THE

PLAYS

OF

WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE,

Accurately printed from the Text of the corrected Copy left by the late

GEORGE STEEVENS, Esq.

WITH

A SERIES OF ENGRAVINGS,

FROM ORIGINAL DESIGNS OF

HENRY FUSELI, Esq. R. A. PROFESSOR OF PAINTING:

AND A SELECTION

OF EXPLANATORY AND HISTORICAL NOTES,
From the most eminent Commentators;

A History of the Stage, a Life of Shakspeare, &c.
BY ALEXANDER CHALMERS, A. M.

IN TEN VOLUMES.

VOLUME I.

CONTAINING

THE TEMPEST.

TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA.
MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR.

LONDON:

Printed for F. C. and J. Rivington; J. Johnson; R. Baldwin; H. L.
Gardner; W. J. and J. Richardson; J. Nichols and Son; T. Payne; R.
Faulder; G. and J. Robinson; W. Lowndes; G. Wilkie; Scatcherd and
Letterman; T. Egerton; J. Walker; W. Clarke and Son; J. Barker and Son;
D. Ogilvy and Son; Cuthell and Martin; R. Lea; P. Macqueen; Lackington,
Allen and Co.; T. Kay; J. Deighton; J. White; W. Miller; Vernor and
Hood; D. Walker; C. Law; B. Crosby and Co.; R. Pheney; Longman, Hurst,
Rees, and Orme; Cadell and Davies; J. Harding; R. H. Evans; S. Bagster;
J. Mawman; Blacks and Parry; J. Badcock; J. Asperne; and T. Ostell.

1805.

K1504/26

Auktion
Ark Ancien

PREFACE.

THE EDITOR's intentions, when this work was first suggested by the PROPRIETORS of Mr. STEEVENS's elaborate Edition, have been amply explained in the Prospectus which has accompanied every play; but with what success they have been carried into execution, it is impossible to conjecture. It is the first attempt that has been made to concentrate the information given in the copious notes of the various commentators within a moderate space, and with an attention rather to their conclusions than to their premises.

Mr. STEEVENS, in his Advertisement to the edition of 1793, after apologizing for the prolixity and number of his notes, seems to anticipate the time when " a judicious and frugal selection

VOL. I.

PREFACE.

may be made from the labours of all" his coadjutors; but whether the present be eithe judicious or frugal, must be left to a decision over which the EDITOR can have no controul. He can only say that in the whole progress of his labours, he endeavoured to place himself in the situation of one who desires to understand his author at the smallest expence of time and thought, and who does not wish to have his attention diverted from a beauty, to be distracted by a contest. In thus assuming the character of a general reader, who is neither a scholar nor a critick, he found no difficulty; but it would have been arrogant, had it been possible, to measure the understandings of others by his own, and therefore from the opinions that he has given too much, or too little, he can have no appeal.

In selecting the notes, the names of the authors have seldom been retained, unless where they relate to contested points. Notes of criticism, however, have generally their authors' names, and it is hoped that the preservation